Principals’ perceptions and experiences of the role parents play in school governing bodies in rural areas

This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of rural school principals in South Africa of the role that parents in the school governing bodies (SGBs) play in improving school management and governance. The study reports on a literature review as well as on the empirical investigation, which was based on a qualitative research paradigm. Semi-structured interviews with the principals of three different rural schools were employed to collect data. The literature findings revealed that including parents as part of the SGB is seen as an essential component for the successful functioning of the school. The empirical study also emphasised the importance of including parents. However, the principals were concerned about the fact that many members of the SGB are illiterate and uncertain of the role they play in school governance. The principals emphasised the need for training of the members of SGBs as regards their working knowledge of school governance activities.     

Vacuum interrupter, high reliability component of distribution switches, circuit breakers and contactors

The use of vacuum interrupters(VIs)as the current interruption component for switches,circuit breakers,reclosers and contactors operating at distribution voltages has escalated since their introduction in the mid-1950’s.This electrical product has developed a dominating position for switching and protecting distribution circuits.VIs are even being introduced into switching products operating at transmission voltages.Among the reasons for the VI’s popularity are its compactness,its range of application,its low cost,its superb electrical and mechanical life and its ease of application.Its major advantage is its well-established reliability.In this paper we show how this reliability has been achieved by design,by mechanical life testing and by electrical performance testing.We introduce the“sealed for life”concept for the VI’s integrity.We discuss this in terms of what is meant by a practical leak rate for VIs with a life of over 30 years.We show that a simple high voltage withstand test is an easy and effective method for monitoring the long-term vacuum integrity.Finally we evaluate the need for routine inspection of this electrical product when it is used in adverse ambient environments.     

Parental influences and adolescent career behaviours in a collectivist cultural setting

Using social cognitive career theory, we examined the relationships between parental variables (parental career expectations, adolescent–parent career congruence) and adolescent career aspirations and career actions (planning, exploration) in a sample of Grade 10 Indonesian high school students. We found good support for a model that revealed various routes by which the two parental variables were associated with adolescent career aspirations and career actions, although the main influence of the parental variables was by way of self-efficacy. The findings demonstrate important roles for parental career expectations and adolescent–parent career congruence in adolescents’ career aspirations and actions.     

Does poor spelling equate to slow reading? The relationship between reading,spelling, and orthographic quality

High quality lexical representations in memory, characterized by accuracy and stability, are said to underpin fluent reading. Here, the relationship between orthographic quality and reading speed was examined by asking undergraduates (N = 74) to repeatedly read and spell words. Spelling performance over five trials indicated orthographic quality. Single word reading speed was measured using E-Prime technology. A within-participant repeated measures analysis revealed that words which participants spelled consistently accurately, were read faster than words which were misspelled. This pattern also held in a within-word analysis; the same words were read faster by individuals who always spelled them correctly, compared to those who did not. Further, it was found that when words were spelled using the same incorrect letter patterns across trials (i.e., in the same erroneous way), they were read faster than when they had an incorrect but less stable representation (i.e., inconsistent spelling across trials). Hence, the difference in reading speed appears to be a function of both the accuracy and stability of the orthographic representations stored in memory, rather than due to characteristics of individual participants or words. These results lend support for a central role of lexical quality in both spelling and reading, and are discussed with reference to the lexical quality hypothesis.     

Development and use of a test instrument to measure biology teachers’ content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)

Research on teachers’ professionalism and professional development has increased in the last two decades. A main focus of this line of research has been the cognitive component of teacher professionalism, i.e., professional knowledge. Most of the previous studies on teacher knowledge—such as the Learning Mathematics for Teaching (LMT) (Hill et al. 2004), the Professional Competence of Teachers, Cognitively Activating Instruction, and Development of Students´ Mathematical Literacy (COACTIV) (Baumert et al. 2010), and the Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21) (Schmidt et al. 2007) studies—have been conducted in the field of mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and content knowledge (CK). There have been few comparable studies conducted with science teachers, especially biology teachers. To fill the gap, this study examines the development and use of instruments to measure biology teachers’ CK and PCK. In particular, this study describes a method to develop reliable, objective, and valid instruments measuring teachers’ CK and PCK in four steps by the use of empirical data of students. Additionally, the study explores whether CK and PCK might be measured as separate knowledge categories by using a paper-and-pencil test. This paper presents a theoretical model that guides test development and provides steps to develop and validate the instruments. Details are also provided regarding the computation of the Rasch scale score measures for 158 biology teachers. The results indicate that the instruments measured teachers’ CK and PCK in an objective, valid, and reliable way. This suggests that the new instruments can be used in combination with classroom observations to examine teaching quality and further its relation to student learning.     

The Sorry Tale of Contemporary Authorship: A Study of Scottish Authors

This paper gives a detailed overview of contemporary authorship in Scotland through the analysis of interviews with and a survey of Scottish authors. These results are compared to previous studies to highlight the changing nature of authorship over the years. Both the survey and interview results paint a pessimistic picture of authorship in the twenty-first century, with the majority of authors earning very little from their writing and depending on alternative avenues to improve their income. Additionally, Scottish authors are not benefiting from the numerous new platforms to exploit their work through, which could help to enhance their income. This is partly because many Scottish authors still have a traditional view of publishing and do not think about their work commercially, and partly because, in many cases, their rights are controlled by their publishers and not widely exploited. This survey also found that Scottish authors with London literary agents earned more income than their counterparts with Scottish agents; however, this was mainly because they were more likely to be published with London publishers. This shows that Scottish publishers are failing their authors by not fostering their rights efficiently and effectively: fostering these rights more effectively could help supplement authors’ income.     

General Mass Communications

Harold A. Innis' Empire and Communications (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972---$12.50/2.75)

The Bias of Communication (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964---$8.50/3.50)

John Gordon Burke (ed.) Print, Image and Sound: Essays on Media (Chicago: American Library Association, 1972---$6.95)

Mark Slade, Language of Change: Moving Triages of Man (Toronto: Holt, Rinehart & Winston of Canada Ltd, 1970 (available in this country.from Winston Press, 25 Groveland Terrace, Minneapolis 55403)---price not known, paper)     

Measurement of communication flexibility: Working adults vs. college students

Earlier work has indicated that certain groups of adults might be disproportionately inflexible in their communicative interactions, but conclusions are uncertain due to the accepted practice of sampling college students to develop and validate measures. This study compared working adults with college student respondents on the Communication Flexibility scale (Martin & Rubin, 1994). Results from two samples of working adults indicate that adults score lower on communication flexibility than do traditional college students. This reinforces researchers’ need to be aware that some measures’ norms may vary depending on the targeted population.